Walker Points To The Boards

NBA report

Guard Leads Bullets In Rebounds, Hustle And Triple-doubles

April 3, 1990|By Tim Povtak of The Sentinel Staff

WASHINGTON — Darrell Walker of the Washington Bullets may be creating a new position in basketball - power point guard.

Although he looks like a fairly normal point guard (6 feet 4, 185 pounds) and often acts like one, providing plenty of assists for high-scoring teammates Bernard King and Jeff Malone, he is anything but stereotypical.

Sometimes he acts like a power forward.

Not only does he lead the Bullets in assists (7.8 per game) and steals (1.81), he leads them in minutes played (35.2) and, most surprisingly, rebounds (8.8 per game).

''He has a rebounder's mentality,'' Washington Coach Wes Unseld said. ''He always seems to get his share of rebounds. It's not something you teach. It's a knack he has.''

Walker is one of two guards (the other is Fat Lever of Denver) to lead his team in rebounding. He matched a career-high with 16 rebounds against Denver last week. He has led the team in rebounding in 42 games.

''I just developed a knack for always being around the ball,'' Walker said. ''A lot of guys kind of float sideways when the shot goes up. But I go right to the boards. I was always taught to follow the flight of the ball.''

Walker has provided a bright spot in an otherwise dismal year for the Bullets, who have struggled to their worst season since 1967 when the Bullets played in Baltimore.

Although the poor season has forced him to perform in relative obscurity (the Bullets are at the bottom of the league in attendance), Walker is having the finest season of his seven-year NBA career.

He recorded his seventh triple-double of the season Sunday, reaching double figures in scoring, rebounding and assists for the third time in the past five games. Only Magic Johnson, with nine, and Larry Bird (8) have more triple-doubles this season. He also has fallen just one assist short of having four more triple-doubles.

Although some players on non-playoff teams have begun coasting through this final month, he has accelerated. In the past five games, he is averaging 11 rebounds, 13.4 points and 9.6 assists - statistics of a star.

''Maybe I should start him at center next game,'' Unseld said, jokingly. ''Maybe I've got him in the wrong position.''

Although he has bounced around, from New York to Denver to Washington, he has become more than just a reliable point guard.

''My job on this team isn't to score. We've got legitimate scorers,'' he said. ''My job is to get them the ball. My rebounding is a bonus. My scoring average may have slipped, but that's the least of my concerns.''

He is 10th in the NBA in assists and 20th in rebounding, an odd combination. Lever, as the only real comparison, is 19th in rebounding (9.0), but he is 19th in assists (6.5).

''Darrell doesn't get a lot of credit, but he does a lot of our dirty work,'' Unseld said. ''All I know is that he rebounds well enough to get us the ball when we need it, then he also knows what to do with it. For that, I'm grateful.''